Chinese
historical documents contain many references to Wildman, a supposed large
unknown primate reported today in numerous provinces. Scientific interest
in Wildman in modem China began in the late 1950's, and intensified in
the 1970's with fieldwork in northwest Hubei and southern Shanxi provinces
sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. No physical evidence has
been uncovered, with the exception of the hands and feet of a supposed
Wildman. Morphological analysis indicates that they had belonged to a
very large monkey species, possibly a macaque, still unknown to science.
These undescribed monkeys may account for sightings of the "smaller" Wildman. A number of reported morphological and ecological characteristics
are reviewed, and Wildman's possible affinities to the fossil ape Gigantopithecus
are discussed. The discovery of an actual specimen of Wildman could shed
light on the classificatory status of Gigantopithecus, and would certainly
enhance knowledge of the origins of human evolution, particularly bipedalism.

EARLIEST HISTORICAL
RECORDS AND FOLKLORE

Chinese historical
documents, and many city and town annals, contain abundant records of
Wildman, which are given various names, such as "man bear,"
"hairy man," "shangui" (mountain monster), "xing-xing"
(orangutan), and "feifei."

In the period of Warring
States (475-221 B.C.), Qu Yuan, a great poet, wrote a poem about "shangui" (mountain monster). Some scholars believe that the theme of the poem corresponds
to the legend of Wildman.

During the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644 A.D.), the great pharmacologist Li Shizhen mentioned several
kinds of Wildman in the 51st volume of his monumental work Compendium
of Materia Medica. One of them was called "feifei," an account
of which is quoted as follows:

"Feifei,"
which are called "man bear," are also found in the mountainous
areas in west Shu [part of Sichuan Province today] and Chu division, where
people skin them and eat their palms. The You Mountain of Sha County,
Fujian province, sees the same ones, standing about one zhang [equal to
3.1 meters] in height and smiling to the people they come across, and
are called "shandaren" [men as big as mountains], "wildmen"
or "shanxiao."

Even today, in the
area of Fang County, Hubei Province, there are still legends about "maoren"
(hairy men) or "wildmen." A local chronicle, about 200 years
old, says that "the Fang Mountain lying 40 li [2 li equals one
kilometer] south to the county town is precipitous and full of holes,
where live many maoren, about one zhang high and hair-coated. They often
come down to eat human beings and chickens and dogs, and seize those who
fight them." A lantern on which there is an ornament of a "maoren" figure was unearthed in this area during an archeological excavation.
It has been dated at 2,000 years.

There are widespread
folk tales about Wildman among the peoples of China. One of the most well
known says that there was a kind of longhaired Wildman in the depths of
a montane forest. When it saw people, it would smile, grab their two arms
tightly, and then faint with laughter. Once recovered, it would kill and
eat them. Thereafter, when people entered the mountains, they took a pair
of hollow bamboo poles with them. If by chance they met a Wildman, they
would put their arms into the poles, and when the Wildman fainted with
laughter, they would break away from it by slipping the poles off their
arms--and would then either run away or kill it. Stories like this are
heard in many parts of China.

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
IN MODERN TIMES

In modern times, incidents
of people encountering Wildman have been reported from time to time in
Sichuan, Yunnan, Hubei, Shanxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Anhuei provinces,
and the autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. Many witnesses say that
they have seen "strange animals," resembling both man and ape,
huge-bodied, hairy, and walking upright. (There are also a number of reported
instances in which Wildman specimens were killed or captured alive.) Some
witnesses, however, say that the Wildman they saw was short and slight
in build.

Among these numerous
reports, there are two worthy of note because the witnesses were scientific
workers and had a good knowledge of natural science. One is Wang Tselin,
a biologist, who saw a Wildman killed in the Gansu area in 1940; it was
a female with very big breasts, was covered with grayish-brown hair, was
about 2 meters in height, and the configuration of its face looked very
much like the famous Peking Man.

The other is Fan Jingquan, a geologist.
With the help of local guides, he watched, at a safe distance, two local
Wildman in the mountain forest near Baoji County, Shanxi Province, in
the spring of 1950. They were mother and son, the smaller one being 1.6
meters in height - (approx 5 feet tall). Both looked human at first glance . Some Soviet scholars later learned
of this, and had it reported briefly in a newspaper.

There have been an
increasing number of eyewitness reports of Wildman in recent years, and
Chinese scientists are being urged to make on-the-spot investigations.

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS
IN NEW CHINA

Chinese scientific
investigations of Wildman on a regular basis started with the founding
of new China, organized by state-owned scientific institutions, funded
by the government, and staffed by the scientific departments concerned.
These scientific activities have been as follows, in chronological order:

(1) Investigation
of the "Abominable Snowman" (Yeti) in the 1950's

By the end of the
1950's, the "Snowman craze" had spread throughout the world,
and many private investigation teams from various countries went to the
southern foot of the Himalayas to search for it. In China, the investigation
was assigned to a Himalayan mountaineering expedition engaged in the mountaineering
organized by the All-China Federation of Sports. Participants in this
investigation were scientific workers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
and biology professors at Peking University. They conducted this investigation
in Tibet, from May to July of 1959, and it was reported that they had
found a piece of head hair 16 cm long, and had had it analyzed microscopically.
They found that it was different in structure from that of the orangutan,
brown bear, or yak, but could not prove, of course, that it was the head-hair
of a Snowman.

Numerous people, including
participants in the current investigation, do not believe in the existence
of the Snowman. They think that they are probably bears. But Professor
Wu Dingliang, an anthropologist and director of the Division of Anthropological
Teaching and Research at Shanghai Fudan University, and the present author,
both conclude that the Snowman is probably a large, unknown species of
primate.

To the knowledge of
the author, there are Snowman legends not only in Tibet and Xingjiang,
but also in the northwestern areas of Yunnan Province, such as Deoin and
Zhong Dian, which are inhabited by people of Tibetan ancestry.

(2) Investigation
of Wildman in the Forests of Xishuang Banna,
Yunnan Province, in the 1960's

In 1961, it was reported
that road builders had encountered and killed a female Wildman in the
primeval thick forest of the Xishuang Banna area. It was said that the
Wildman was 1.2 to 1.3 meters in height, that it was covered with hair,
that it walked upright, and that its hands, ears, breasts, and external
genitalia were similar to those of a female human. The concerned departments
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted an on the-spot investigation.
They failed to obtain any direct evidence, thereby refuting the existence
of Wildman in Xishuang Banna. Some participants in the investigation even
asserted that the Wildman was nothing but a gibbon living in the thick
primeval forests. The present author recently visited a newsman who took
part in that investigation. He stated that the animal that had been killed
was not a gibbon, but an unknown animal of human shape.

It is worth noting
that, over the past 2 years or so, some people in the western border areas
of Yunnan Province say that the above-mentioned kind of Wildman still
move about, and that another one has since been killed. (The author published
an article entitled "The Wildman I Saw" in the 10th issue of
New Observer, 1980, on the Wildman in the forest of Xishuang Banna.)

(3) Investigation
of Wildman in Northwestern Hubei and Southern Shanxi Provinces in the
1970

There have been legends
about giant-sized "hairy men" existing in the forests of Fang
County and the Shennongjia area of Hubei Province since the earliest historical
times. Resembling both man and ape, walking upright, and leaving huge
footprints, these creatures are said to be covered with red hair, and
their head hair is long. In recent years, witnesses have reportedly encountered
Wildman on a number of occasions, and this has aroused interest in Chinese
scientific circles.

A large-scale scientific
investigation sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences was carried
out in these areas in 1977. More than 100 people participated in it for
nearly a year, and the author took part as head of both the "deep-thrust"
team and the scientific research group. As head of the "deep-thrust" team, I directed the investigation of the whole area around the highest
peaks of the greater and lesser Shennongjia Mountain Range, which is covered
with thick, ancient forests, and as head of the research group, I was
responsible for the summary work based on all the scientific evidence
obtained during the investigation.

Although the investigation
was unusual in its scale, number of participants, and duration, no direct
proof was found of the existence of the Wildman, and only footprints,
pieces of head hair, and feces presumed to be those of Wildman were recovered.
(Some of the author's articles on this investigation appeared in a volume
entitled Wolf Children, Snowmen, and Fire Fossils. More recently, the
author wrote a comprehensive summary of the 1977 Shennongjia area investigation
entitled "Are We Tracking Down a Nonexistent Animal?" This was
part of a book, Mystery Yet to Be Opened, which was edited by the author.)

After a short break,
the investigation of Wildman in the Shennongjia forest areas was resumed.
Between 1979 and 1980, an investigation under the sponsorship of local
departments included biology professors at Shanghai Teacher's University,
and it extended the area of investigation to include neighboring parts
of Sichuan province. A skeleton of a "monkey child" was found,
which some people believed represented a species of monkey with a "human" body. Others adhered to the idea that it was the progeny of a Wildman
and a human woman captured by the former. But these are tenuous arguments,
and in my view the skeleton is that of a deformed human. This view is
strengthened by the higher than normal occurrence of human genetic deformities
in the area of investigation.

In Shanxi Province,
there were reports of villagers encountering a Wildman in the area to
the east of the Taibai Mountains of Qinling in 1977. It was said to be
2 meters in height, and it walked upright. Subsequently, a biological
resources study team from Shanxi Province made an on-the-spot investigation,
and suggested that it could be a large unknown primate.

(4) Investigation
of "Man bears" of Jiolong Mountain of Sui Chang, Zhejiang Province,
in the Early 1980's

"Man bears"
in the Jiolong Mountain Natural Reserve Area were recorded long ago in
local chronicles. Li Shizen wrote in his Compendium of Materia Medica
that there were "man bears" in Chu Zhou, which covers the Sui
Chang area today, to the southeast of Li Shui County.

Scientific investigation
of "man bears" on the Jiolong Mountain is mainly under the direction
of the Science Committee of Li Shui Prefecture, and participants are personnel
in specific fields at scientific research institutions and universities.
Preserved hands and feet (two of each) were recently obtained from a middle-school
teacher of biology. He obtained them in 1957, when local peasants reportedly
killed a "man bear." These remains represent the first instance
of physical evidence obtained during investigations of Wildman in China
(Fig. 3). In December, 1980 I went

to Sui Chang to study
these hand and foot specimens. I concluded, beyond any doubt, that they
belong to a higher primate, and have morphological traits of both ape
and monkey. The eyewitnesses thought that they had belonged to a Wildman,
or of a manlike "strange animal," but after examining the specimens,
I determined that they were not the hands and feet of a Wildman. They
might possibly belong to an enormous monkey (perhaps a species of macaque
not previously recorded in this area). These hands and feet could not
have come from the legendary "man bear," which is said to be
about 2 meters in height, and leaves large footprints. However, there
is no denying the possibility that they came from an unknown primate in
the Jiolong Mountain area.

There are similar
legends about Wildman in places other than the Jiolong Mountain area,
such as the Wuyi Mountain in Fujian Province, the Huang Mountain in Anhui
Province, and the nearby counties of Sui Chang, Zhejiang Province.

In summary, since
the end of the 1950's, China has organized a series of on-the-spot investigations
of Wildman in Tibet, and the provinces of Yunnan, Hubei, Shanxi, and Zhejiang.
Among the participants in these investigations have been a number of professional
scientists, such as anthropologists, geologists, zoologists, and botanists,
as well as personnel in specific fields of zoological parks and natural
history museums. Taking part in the investigation in the Shennongjia forest
area are experienced huntsmen and skilled scouts.

Up to the present
time, apart from the above-mentioned hand and foot samples obtained in
the Jiolong Mountain areas of Zhejian Province, no direct physical evidence
has been found to support the existence of Wildman. That is to say, all
we know about Wildman is based on indirect evidence, such as folklore,
eyewitness accounts, footprints, hair samples, and feces samples. Legends
about Wildman in these areas have a long history, however, and there are
numerous eyewitnesses. More significantly, the ecological and morphological
aspects of Wildman are consistently reported. Thus, it can be inferred
that these unknown animals are not mere creatures of fiction. What Chinese
scientific workers seek on thickly forested mountains may actually be
unknown animals, yet to be scientifically described.

MORPHOLOGICAL AND
ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Based on the evidence
obtained in recent years, the legendary Wildman of China has the following
morphological characteristics:

(1) Its height
varies between 1.2 (47.2" ) and 2.5 meters (8' 2.4"
). It can perhaps be
sub-divided into two types, a larger one of about 2 meters in height (6'
6.7" ) and a smaller one about 1 meter in height (39.4"
).

(2) It can walk upright, but four limbs are used when running fast or
climbing slopes.

(3) It resembles both man and ape, with faces, in particular, having mixed
features of both.

(4) Its head-hair consists of interspersed short and long hairs, the former
3--4 cm in length, the latter trailing down the shoulders. The hair, reddish
brown, grey, brownish-yellow, black, or occasionally white in color, covers
the whole body. Only some of them reportedly have hair of light color
on the chest.

(5) Its hands, ears, and male external genitalia are similar to those
of humans.

(6) The female has a pair of prominent breasts. (11.8" - 15.7"
)

(7) There are two types of footprints. One is large, 30-40 cm, remarkably
similar to that of man, with the four small toes held together and the
largest one pointing slightly outwards. The other type is smaller, about
20 cm, (7.9" ) and more similar to the footprint of an ape
or monkey, with the largest toe evidently pointing outwards.

(8) It has no syllabic language, but yells monotonously.

Their ecological characteristics are as follows:

(1) They are usually
observed as isolates. Only on rare occasions are they
seen in pairs (one male and one female, or one female and an infant).

(2) They can move about in winter, and do not seem to hibernate.

(3) They consume berries, nuts, tender stems, saplings, and roots, but
eat insects on occasion. When maize ripens in the autumn, they come out
of the forests quite often to take it, and are then likely to encounter
people.

(4) They have not been observed using tools, for either food gathering
or defense.

(5) They can move about at night, but their eyes do not reflect light,
a characteristic that nocturnal animals usually have.

(6) They live mainly in thick primeval forests, which are sparsely populated
by humans. They are good at avoiding detection by people in groups, but
if they encounter a human, they make no aggressive moves.

CONCLUSIONSInvestigative
activity and research work on Wildman continue at various levels. It should
be emphasized that there are two completely different views on Wildman
in Chinese scientific circles. The majority of scientific workers reject
the existence of animals in human shape (i.e., Wildman), because of factors
related to animal ecology and their modern geographical distributions.
They argue that the legendary Wildman merely represents some known animal,
such as bear, monkey, or gibbon ape, or that reports of Wildman might
be due to hallucinations, or even deliberate fabrications. A smaller number
of scholars are of the opinion that the existence of Wildman should not
be rejected, and that Wildman might be a living species yet to be identified
by science.

Even among the latter, there are different views on the classification
of the unknown creatures vis-à-vis systematic zoology. Some think
that they are surviving descendants of Ramapithecus or Australopithecus
(especially A. robustus), both remote relatives of modem man. Others assume
that Wildman belongs to the ape family, and is possibly a living descendant
of Gigantopithecus or the orang-utan, which thrived in southern China
in the Pleistocene.

It is my view that
these human-like animals are not of human type, or at least that the possibility
is very small that they are. Judging from the available evidence, there
is no indication that they live in groups, nor that they have simple syllabic
language, nor that they make or use tools; and these are the prerogative
of the prehumans. It should also be pointed out that no fossil remains
that can definitely be associated with Australopithecus (especially A.
robustus) have been found in China.

If the legendary Wildman
or the witnessed Wildman exists, I am of the opinion that it is quite
possibly the descendant of Gigantopithecus. Up to now, only fossil
lower jawbones and teeth of Gigantopithecus have been unearthed, and it
is therefore difficult to infer its height and mode of locomotion. Nevertheless,
quite a few scholars estimate their height to be about 2 meters (6'
6.7"), and some of them even infer that they could walk erect.
Since many eyewitnesses report that the Chinese Wildman is about 2 meters
in height and walks upright, the fossil evidence could conceivably associate
Wildman with Gigantopithecus.

It is interesting
to note that, in most of the areas where legendary Wildman is reported
in modern times, there are still found primeval forests which contain
quite a few surviving species of trees of the Tertiary period, such as
Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Liriodendron chinensis, and Emmenopterys henryi.
In a relatively static environment, which has been less affected by glaciers
of the Quaternary period, it is possible that not only some of the flora
but also some of the fauna of previous times could have survived.

Moreover, Gigantopithecus
was the dominant member of the Ailuropoda Stegodon fauna thriving in the
mainland of China in the middle and later period of the Pleistocene. Later,
most of the members of this fauna disappeared because of geological changes.
However, there are still quite a few survivors; among them, for instance,
the Malaysian tapir and orang-utan, as well as the giant panda, which
changed its habits and characteristics and remained in the middle and
western part of China. Therefore, it is not impossible that Gigantopithecus,
as the dominant member of this fauna, could also have changed its original
habits and characteristics and survived to the present. It may have evolved
into the large Wildman now reported in China, the Snowman (Yeti) in areas
in the southern part of the Himalayas, and might even have crossed the
Isthmus of Bering to become the Sasquatch (Bigfoot) of North America.

However, Gigantopithecus
is a topic of contention in the field of paleoanthropology. Some scholars
maintain that it belongs to the ape lineage, while others believe that
it should be included in the human lineage. Consequently, there are different
opinions as to its morphological features, and ecological and behavioral
characteristics. If we could capture a Wildman and prove that it is the
descendant of Gigantopithecus, this would, in turn, help classify the
fossil Gigantopithecus!

What is most astonishing
of all, however, is that Wildman is reported to walk upright, and that
its footprints are similar to human footprints (it is the same with Sasquatch
and the Snowman). How did it evolve a way of walking bipedally? If we
could capture a Wildman and understand the mechanics of its bipedalism,
this would undoubtedly be of great help in clarifying how the mechanics
of human bipedalism evolved. Therefore, if a specimen were obtained, it
would not only be an important scientific discovery, but it would also
be of great significance to the research on the origin and evolution of
all man-kind. This is one of the basic premises of Wildman research in
China.

My analysis of the
hand and foot specimens of the "man bear" of Jiolong Mountain,
Zhejiang Province, has produced a new hypothesis. Through many-sided comparative
studies of these samples, it is reasonable to postulate that they might
not be the hands of an ape at all, but of an enormous species of monkey
still unknown to science. Thus, the legendary small-sized Wildman known
as "xing-xing" in parts of China might have its origin in observations
of large monkeys. This hypothesis, of course, requires further study.

Finally, it should
be emphasized that many of the participants in Wildman research in China
are professional scientific workers. At the same time, however, it has
to be admitted that most of them are not well trained in faunal ecology,
primatology, vertebrate paleontology, paleoanthropology, physical anthropology
and other disciplines concerned with this topic. Consequently, when they
collect and describe evidence, or visit witnesses to obtain first-hand
reports, they are not always in a totally objective and scientific frame
of mind. This, in turn, can affect the accuracy and reliability of the
evidence, which they collect. Caution therefore must be exercised when
using their materials. However, we are confident that, with the development
of further research and experience, these drawbacks gradually will be
overcome.

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